Miranda Calley
As the events of Concession unfold, it is found that Joel Calley is not working alone. True to the supernatural elements of the webcomic, it is found that the violent spirit of his sister Miranda is seemingly manipulating him. ''Concession'' In the past initially given by Joel, Miranda was his sister who was envied by their older brother Julian for the attention they received. In his rage, Julian murdered Miranda and pinned the blame on Joel. This led to Joel being institutionalized where he received hallucinations of Miranda seemingly telling him (presumably through visions, as Miranda is never shown speaking in the story) to enact revenge for being murdered. Eventually, Joel began to enact his sister's plan which led to many of the conflicts of Concession. Miranda first appears during the spiritual/energy confrontation between Joel and Artie. When gaining the upper hand, Artie tears out a female being from within Joel. This female turns out to be Miranda who continues to drive Joel towards horrific acts of violence. To his boyfriend Matt, Joel reveals that everyone has a connection to the spiritual world but only a handful like Artie and himself recognize it. Miranda appears as a spiritual entity on the astral plane with massive butterfly wings and demonic shadow tendrils. Thus, the webcomic establishes the connection with her brother. Artie is later guided by his dolphin girlfriend Melusine to her people who, through a form of Animism, enlighten Artie about how one connects to the spiritual world. There, Artie meets Miranda who shows him some of her brother's past actions and experiences (such as being institutionalized and burning down a church) which shows Artie the true extent of her evil. He declares her a virus that must be stopped. (During this sequence, she threatens Artie with a Predator-like mouth.) Unfortunately, Melusine is murdered by her fundamentalist brother for having relations with Artie. In death, she appears as Miranda's counterpart. Miranda disappears for a while until she is revisited during one of Matt and Joel's outings. When asked why he can't just abandon the revenge plot, Joel only says that he can't really explain it to Matt. Behind them, Miranda is shown graphically murdering and corrupting two patrons (although whether it actually happened or is only a hallucination witnessed by Joel alone is never said). Not long afterwards, Miranda prompts her brother to confront Artie and Melusine when the latter two seek to end their threat. During this section, there's brief antagonism due to Miranda butting into Joel's dream about Natalie Portman. In a conversation with Father Tim (who earlier fought and was wounded by Joel), Joel reveals that has long known about the demonic nature of his sister. Being a demonic entity that feeds off energies caused by pain, distress, and great sadness, Joel willingly aided her in the feeding, maintaining his sadistic side. When the truth of the matter is finally revealed (that Miranda had only died in her sleep and that Joel is deluded), Joel and Miranda battle Artie and Melusine to reclaim any power they can. Miranda is seemingly vanquished by Melusine who tears through her in a bloody showdown. Joel is defeated but the wolf is saved by Matt who wards off Artie. Disturbingly, Miranda appears years later, shown around the President of the United State's body, smiling maliciously as she has taken another host. What she does next, if anything, is unknown. Whether she still has ties to her brother is unknown as well. Tumblr Outside of the webcomics, Immelmann also created a Tumblr account designed as though it was connected to Miranda. With the header "go away", it shows a series of corrupted images (drawn from various sources, including the various webcomics). One of the more disturbing images shows what appears to be a basic caricature (drawn in the style of Ballerina Mafia characters) of a black Joel-like wolf dead with blood coming from their body. Another disturbing aspect is a sound file which, when played, lets out a low hum and pattern that is buried in static at times, getting worse as the recording reaches its end. The theme definitely is suggestive of Miranda's corruption, with the aforementioned picture of the possible victim being the only clear, unaltered image on the page (thus far). What this really says about Miranda is unknown. However, one of the images, showing a particularly corrupted version of the top profile image of her, is given the title "i can never forgive you..." Paired with the picture of the victim and how several of the corrupted images (seem to) contain Joel in them, it could suggest she is angry with her brother and may seek revenge on him too. Corrupted State The reason for Miranda's transformation into her present demonic form isn't fully understood, although there have been theories. Initially, it is understood as being a result of her corruption at death and absorption of negative emotions in her spiritual form. She appears early in Joel's childhood (presumably before he is incarcerated). In some of her appearances, her demonic form permits her to transcend plains of existence, such as her brief scene in the restaurant where she appears to have manifested and killed two patrons. As she died as a baby, it is likely that her adult she-wolf form is a reflection of how she would have looked were she still alive (baring noticeable resemblance to her mother Lorelei). The Predator mouth incident also suggests other abilities connected to her demonic form, hinted further by her bestial appearances. However, some later insights suggest that Miranda's corrupted state is the end result of many souls that undergo a horrific process upon sudden death. This is somewhat supported by Melusine becoming a creature very much like Miranda in nature (albeit a creature of light rather than shadows). Melusine is also questioned as to whether or not she's as bad as Miranda (perhaps noting that Melusine had been murdered and may have sought revenge, as did Miranda until the revelation of her manipulations). However, this perspective has been challenged by Melusine's different end goals and Miranda's specific actions in the webcomic. There is also the theory that Miranda's corrupted state and villainy is motivated, if not caused by her anger at having died so young. It could explain a lot of aspects of Miranda's character, having died before learning and understanding things such as empathy. This would also account for her desire for power in a context where she has no real understanding of how to control herself. But this theory has been explored much less than the others. Letters from Tim Towards the webcomic's conclusion, a series of letters hidden on the Concession and At the Heart of It All websites are revealed to be those of Father Tim attempting to pass on information without alerting Miranda. In these notes, readers are encouraged to search through the aforementioned websites and the source codes of the indicated pages. Doing so eventually leads to a corrupted version of the Concession website featuring glitchy versions of previous comics and new images of childlike drawings showing Miranda's history. Among them is a scratchy stick figure illustration of what is presumably the Calley family. By the final letter, he fears for the reader now being stalked by Miranda and begs them to not look into her eyes if they hear her or feel her heated breath. Tim's letters also provide another theory regarding her corruption. Namely, that her soul was exposed to a vicious radiation that contorted and twisted her soul in the process. Whether this is true is never clarified, although it does make some sense when considering the spiritual plains of existence. Butterfly Motif Another aspect of Miranda's character is her butterfly motif, which she shares to an extent with Joel. As Joel explains about his connection to the spiritual plain, Miranda is shown with manifested butterfly wings. It carries an obvious symbolism of transformation-in this case, transformation into something horrific rather than beautiful (noted with the dark appearance of the butterfly motif and Miranda's beautiful adult form contrasted with her bestial self). There's also the images allegedly illustrated to show her past (such as seen in the gallery below) wherein Miranda appears as a butterfly to Joel following her death. Gallery Mirandacalley.jpg|Her "normal" appearance mirandabeast.jpg|Her bestial form mirandasnewhost.jpg|Her new host... mirandabeforejoel.jpg|Alleged drawing of her return to Joel mirandacorrupted.jpg|''i can never forgive you...'' Category:Webcomic Villains Category:Demon Category:Undead Category:Noncorporeal Category:Torturer Category:Karma Houdini Category:Mature Category:Paranormal Category:Noncorporeal Category:Mute Category:Corrupting Influence Category:Lovecraftian Horrors Category:Power Hungry Category:Siblings Category:Parasite Category:Internet Villains Category:Mind-Breakers Category:Dark Forms Category:Neutral Evil Category:Bogeymen Category:Mongers Category:Monsters Category:Tragic Category:Symbolic Category:Female